(4/12) Sins and Animals

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
23 February 2019, noon, part 4
Translated from Bengali

There is one more thing you should always remember. Always listen carefully to what I am telling you. It is necessary to listen with your heart – these things do not just enter ears; you must listen with your heart.

We are alive in this world at the expense of killing millions of living entities. Even when we simply breathe, so many living entities enter our bodies and die. It is impossible to even count them. When we drink water, we swallow many living entities; when we eat rice, we kill so many plants to get that rice; when we use wheat, we also get it by killing many entities. We impose some action upon other souls. Those who eat fish and meat also kill animals every day. We all commit sins every day – we kill millions of souls and, therefore, commit millions of offences. What is the solution? The solution has been given by Srimad Bhagavatam. Externally, you can say that even sadhus commit sins (they also eat, breathe, drink water, etc.), but they actually do not. The Lord says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 'Everything that I have created in this world with the help of Brahma is created for Me, for My pleasure. So, if you take anything without offering it first to Me, you will be taking sin.' So, what do sadhus do? Be it rice, dal, vegetables, potato – they offer everything to the Lord.

We are not false renunciates who reject everything. For example, you have mangoes growing on the tree or somebody gives you some mangoes, but you do not want to accept them, so you just let them rot. We are not like that. We are neither enjoyers nor renunciates. We go to neither of the extremes – we are situated in the middle: we are servitors. We take mangoes and use them in the service to Govinda, to Radha-Madhava. If we do this, then the mango tree will get some benefit because it is able to serve the Lord. So, sadhus try to help all living entities. Even when they drink water, they think about the Lord, they offer it to their gurudev and the Lord. If you go somewhere and get hungry on yoru way, you can get some fruit – think about the Lord, offer it mentally and take it as prasad. Sadhus do not eat anything; they take prasad. They offer everything to the Lord – the Lord, in turn, saves the offered items for His devotees, and the devotees can take the Lord's prasad then. This is the difference between sadhus and outside people. This is how we must live our lives.

Leave everything to Krishna. Everything belongs to the Lord, so we will not use anything for our own pleasure. Only because we are overcome with ego do we want to enjoy something, but this is not prescribed in any of the scriptures. Always be conscious of this.

You have got this human birth, but what have you got it for? What is the meaning of life? We get a human birth but behave like animals: we eat, sleep, fear and copulate. Who does not do this? Humans do this, dogs do this, cats also do this. Somebody throws something rotten on the street, and dogs come and eat it. Dogs also sleep. They also fear – if you threaten a dog, it gets scared and runs away. Humans also eat, humans also sleep, humans also fear. Humans have wives, and dogs also have some wives, sons, daughters. We all do the same things. If we cannot distinguish between animal life and human life – if we have no spiritual principles in life – then we are not better than animals.

আহার-নিদ্রা-ভয়-মৈথুনং চ
সামান্যম এতৎ পশুভির নরাণাম ।
ধর্ম্মো হি তেষাম অধিকো বিশেষো
ধর্ম্মেণ হীনাঃ পশুভিঃ সমানাঃ ॥

ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha
samanyam etat pasubhir naranam
dharmo hi tesam adhiko viseso
dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah

'Both animals and humans eat, sleep, fear and copulate. The difference between a human life and an animal life is that a man can search after God but an animal cannot. Therefore, a man devoid of spiritual quest is no better than an animal.'

(Hitopadesh, 25)

A soul that has no religion is no better than an animal.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Servitude
2) Morning Tells the Day
3) Real Milk – Real Benefit
4) Sins and Animals
5) Remember Your Promises
6) Core of Krishna Consciousness
7) Relief from Miseries
8) Toxic Life
9) Keep Your Charge Up
10) Brahmans' Trade
11) Greed Is Sin, Sin Is Death
12) Seeking Happiness and Peace